Air pollution is currently a very serious problem, particularly in and around large cities. Automobile engines are a major cause of such pollution as they discharge large quantities of carbon monoxide and other noxious materials into the atmosphere which is incapable of rendering such materials harmless sufficiently rapidly to avoid accumulation of these materials in the air.
Various solutions have been proposed including internal combustion engines with after-burner devices, steam-powered automobiles, electric-powered automobiles, and various hybrids of these and other systems. Such systems have various disadvantages, and electric-powered automobiles, the field to which the present invention relates, suffer in particular from a severe limitation on the distance they can travel before their electric power stores require recharging.